Recent cognitive approaches to the study of religion have yielded much understanding by focusing on common psychological processes that all humans share. One leading theory, Harvey Whitehouse’s modes of religiosity theory, demonstrates how two distinct modes of organizing and transmitting religious traditions emerge from different ways of activating universal memory systems. In Mind and Religion, top scholars from biology to religious studies question, test, evaluate, and challenge Whitehouse’s sweeping thesis. The result is an up-to-date snapshot of the cognitive science of religion field for classes in psychology, anthropology, or history of religion.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One: The Theoretical Context1. A Reductionistic Model of Distinct Modes of Religious Transmission2. Modes Theory: Some Theoretical Considerations3. Ritual Form and Ritual Frequency4. Divergent Religion: A Dual-Process Model of Religious Thought, Behavior, and Structure5. Rethinking Naturalness: Modes of Religiosity and Religion in the Round

Part Two: Testing the Modes Theory6. In the Empirical Mode: Evidence Needed for the Modes of Religiosity7. Memory and Analogical Thinking in High-Arousal Rituals